Locomotive



Oct. 30, 1928.

N. T. M KEE LOCOMOTIVE INVENTOR.

Filed Dec. 1, 1926 A TTORNE Y.

Patented Oct. 30, 1928.

UNEITEDSTATES assen .NEAL I MCKEE, OF BRONXVILLE, YORK.

LocoMorIvn.

Application filed December 1, 1926'. Serial No. 151,938.

My invention relates to locomotives and has particular reference to theoperating mechanism for the locomotive throttle.

In modern locomotives the throttle is often ,locatedoutside of theboiler in the steam line leading to the engine cylinders, and, in caseswhere a superheater is employed, between the superheater and the engine.As disclosed in Reissue Patent Number 16,285 grantedto It. M; Brown,March 9th, 1926, the throttle is sometimes incorporated in thesuperheater header and in such cases the control rod for actuating thethrottle is carried back to the engine cab outside of: the boiler.

IViththe throttle located in the locomotive smoke-box, whether it isincorporated in the superheater or'not, the use ofan exterior con.- trolrod necessitates an additional packed joint in the smoke-box wall, whichis diflicult to keep tight, and therefore undesirable. F urthermore, thelong rod necessary to reach from the smoke-box back to the cab involvesa differcnce in; expansion between the throttle rod and the boiler, andsome form of compensating device must be employed to eliminate theeffects of this differential expansion. The use of an exterior reach rodof this character is also. undesirable not only because of itsappearance, but also because it is desirable that the exterior oft-heboiler be kept as tree as possiblefrom additions to the already nun'ierous auxiliaries mounted thereon.

Thepresent invention designed to eliminate the difficulties anddisadvantages enumerated above by the provision of a throttle reach rodwhich passes through the interior of the boiler. the invention and theadvantages to be de rived. from the use thereof will become. apparent inconnect-ion with the following description of preferred examples of theinvention which I have illustrated as applied to a locomotive equippedwith a header throttle of the type disclosed in the previously mentionedpatent.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary longitudinalvertical section taken through a locomotive; Fig. 2 is a fragmentarytransverse section, the right-hand half of which is taken on the line 2-2 and the left-hand half of which is taken on the line 22; Fig. 3 anenlarged detail of construct-ion; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary Viewsimilar to Fig. 1 of a diflerent form of the invention.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the main barrel of The more detailed objects ofthe locomotive boileris shown astormed by the sheet 10, with thefire-box formed by the crown sheet 11 mining the rear andrforward sheets12 and'13. The fire-box sheet 13 and the forward flue sheet 14: arejoined'by the usual smoke tubes 15. in which are located the superheaterelements 16 connecting the super-' heater inlet header 17 with. theoutlet header 18 in which the throttle is located; The cam shaft 19operating the throttle terminates inside the line of the smoke-box wall(see Fig. 2), and has secured. at its end a lever 20 to which isattached one endof: the reach rod 21. H

' 23 of the boiler- The engineeflsthrottle lever 24: 1s preferablymounted directly onthe sheet 23 forming the back head, and is connectedto rod 21 in a manner to be described-in detail later. Thet hrottlelever 24 is provided with the usual ratchetlever 25 which operates inconpmction with any suitable mechanism for locking the lever in anydesired position.

In order to prevent-the leakage of air through the tube 22 into thesmoke-home stuffing box must be provided around the rod 21 andlbecauseof the more moderate tempera.- ture at the rearward end of the tube,thestutlmg box is preferably mounted on the rear head: of the boiler. Inthis positionthestutt mgv box isnot only cooler but is alsomuchmoreaccessible. i V V The motion of rod 21 will not be one of puretranslation because of the pivotal: con-' nect'ion. at its forward end,and. the stufiing box must, therefore, allow for a small? amount ofvertical motion at the forward end of the rod. In order to accomplishthis, I have shown a stuffing box comprising a plate 26 suitablysecuredto the boiler head and recessed to accommodate a suitable packing27 which is held in place by means of the gland nut 28. As will beobvious from the figure.

the passage through the plate 26is tapered sufficiently to allow for thenecessary vertical movement of therod 21. In order to accommodate thepivotal motion of the lever 24, the rod 21 is preferably connectedthereto by means of a pin 29 passing through a vertical slot 30 in lever24. It will be obvious that the specific form of stuffing box employedand throttle lever connection used is immaterial,

Ion

is provided at its end with a segmental gear.

20, the latter being actuated by a worm wheel 31 mounted on the forwardend of the rod 21, the latter extending back to the boiler head. throughtube 22'.

The rod 21 is preferably hollow and of comparatively large diameter inorder to prevent torsional distortion, and is supported at the rear endby a suitable plate and bearing 32 which forms a stuffing box preventingthe passage of air through tube 22 into the smoke box. An operatinghand-wheel 33 located in the cab serves the purpose of the conventionalthrottle lever. I

It is particularly to be noted that when constructed in accordance withmy invention the reach rod throughout its entire length is subjected tosubstantially the same temperature as that portion of the boiler andsmokebox through which it passes, and for this reason there will besubstantially no differ ential expansion between the reach rod and theboiler. This makes possible the elimination of all compensatingmechanism designed to take care of dilierential expansion and. permitsthe use of a simple direct connection between the engineers controlmeans and the throttle.

\Vhile I have-illustrated the invention in connection with a throttlelocated in the superheater header, it will be obvious that itsapplication is not hmlted to this particular type of valve, and it willfurther be apparent that the invention may be applied to throttleslocated in the smoke-box arranged in such manner that the tube 22 mustbe lo cated in a position in the boiler different from that shown. Insome instances the superheater elements may be so distributed that thereis insufficient room to locate the tube 22 as shown in the illustrativeexamples and in such cases the tube 22 and rod'21 may be located morecentrally of the boiler and at a higher lever, with the necessaryconnection between the rod 21 and the throttle valve secured through anysuitable form of linkage.

It will furthermore be apparent that ele ments other than the throttleoperating means, such for example asthe pipe carrying blower steam fromthe turret to the smoke box, may be located in the tube 22.

The embodiments I have chosen are, there- :tore, not to be taken aslimiting in sense, but as illustrative only, and the invention is to belimited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a locomotive, a boiler having a forward flue sheet, a back headand a crown sheet, a smoke-box located forward of said sheet, a throttlelocated in said smoke-box, a tube connected to said flue sheet and saidhead and passing through the boiler above the level of said crown sheet,a throttle op erating rod passing through said tube, and packing meansad1acent the back head be tween said tube and said rod.

2. In a locomotive, a boiler having a for ward flue sheet and a backhead, a smokebox located forward of said sheet, a superheater having aheader located in said smoke box, a throttle in said header, a tubeconnected to said flue sheet and said head and passing through theboiler, a throttle operating rod passing through said tube, and packingmeans adjacent the back head between said tube and said rod.

8. Ina locomotive, a boiler, a smoke-box forward of the boiler, athrottle located in said smoke-box, a throttle control member located atthe rear of the boiler, and means located substantially entirely withinthe boiler and the smoke-box and exposed to the combustion gases forconnecting said mem-' her with said throttle, whereby the temperatureand consequent expansion of said means and of said boiler and smoke-boxis substan tially the same.

NEAL 'I. MoKEE.

